Chapter One

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Councilor Emery strode to the pulpit, facing the seemingly endless crowd of elves.

"Now I'm sure all of you have been curious, if not concerned, about the unplanned gathering today. I trust all of you have received the scroll we sent out this morning." He paused to look at the crowd. Emery took a deep breath in and prepared his mental state for the uprisal that would soon start. "This morning, it was discovered and later confirmed that Councilor Liora has and has been housing a daughter." The crowd exploded in outrage, confusion and disbelief. Elves shouted insults and curses while others sat frozen in place, not being able to process the information they just received. Then they looked at her seat. Liora was not there, and neither was her newly discovered child. Councilor Emery cleared his throat and the audience silenced, hoping for more information. "Her daughter, who is named Nellie, is two years old. I know that many of you are wondering where she and her daughter are right now, and I can assure you they are safe and somewhere secure." He gulped. "And since apparently our rules and regulations for ourselves can be broken in secrecy, we all agreed to have Councilor Oralie confirm that none of us have broken that law either." Oralie stood up and approached the line of thrones beside her. First was Councilor Alina, who stated that she never had any offspring and Oralie tested her. She was telling the truth. She moved onto the next elf. It was Clarette, whose results were the same. Then Bronte, Ramira, and Veila. Their answers were the same. She moved onto Terik. He closed his eyes and promised he had not had any offspring. Then Oralie's brow furrowed, and her eyes flew wide open. Her voice was just above a whisper when she said, "Lie detected."

Emery quickly walked over to her and said in his deep voice, "This can't be true." Terik opened his eyes and said sadly, "It is." The Lost Cities erupted in chaos. Emery could hardly believe what he had heard, but he needed to keep everyone in order. "Continue." He whispered to Oralie quickly. She moved onto Zarina. "Lie detected."  At that second Zarina stood up and conjured a flash of lightning. She was gone. Emery couldn't. He just couldn't. "Continue," He barked. By now Oralie's eyes were filled with tears. She stood in front of Darek. "Lie detected." Darek bowed his head in shame. Noland was clear. Oralie trudged to Emery, who was in shock, and held his wrist. "Do you have any offspring?" Emery shook his head vigorously. "Lie detected," Oralie whispered.

Three Weeks Later

Bronte, Clarette, Noland, Veila, Oralie and Ramira sat in front of a semicircle of screens, keyboards tapping and tired eyes blinking. They had been working for weeks now, trying to find the children of the councilors. Emery, Terik and Darek were all in Exile, awaiting tribunals. Liora and her toddler were in Exile too, but in a more modified cell for the child's comfort. Noland clicked a button and sighed. Another dead end. They had found the location of Darek's children two days prior, who were two seven-year old twins living in Australia with their mother. The remaining councilors sent out a retrieval team to bring them back and the crew was almost done erasing the single mother's memories of them. The mother was human. The mansion they had recently built for the councilor's children (called Crystalhill) was almost done and the two kids would live in it with the other children of the council one they found them. If they ever found them. Veila stood up. "I found someone!" She shouted. The other elves in the room all rushed to her seat and looked at her screen. It showed a picture of a very bored-looking teenager. She had gray eyes and brown hair was cut just above her shoulders. The name above her read 'Azalea Harpen'. It said she was 15. "Terik," Ramira mumbled. She had the same eyes as her dad, except they were sharper. More calculating. Veila typed something in and her location popped up. It read 'New York City, New York'.

The retrieval crew of five emerged from the building, dressed as normal New York residents. They split up and checked their watches, made by Dex Dizznee, a talented technopath. The watches showed the location of the young elf they were searching for. A tiny blinking green dot guided the elves to an alleyway where a red-hooded figure was approaching a dumpster and a pile of wood. The group advanced on her quietly, so their existence would stay hidden. "Stop moving." One of the elves sternly said. The girl stopped and put her hands up, slowly turning around. "Jeez, it was just one Poptart." She finally turned all the way around and looked at the faces of the crew. For a split second confusion was scrawled over her face but it was gone as fast as it had come. And that girl booked it. She ran so fast it was hard to keep their eyes on her. She ran to a cage fence and scaled it easily, the team close behind her. Then the girl met a dead end. She cursed. Her hair was a mess now, sweat dripping off her brow. She frantically searched for a way out but was not successful. A screeching sound filled the air as a vociferator elf used her powers, and in a moment, she was knocked out.

A\N: Thanks for reading the first chapter! I would love to hear your feedback (it would be more helpful for some criticism (i need to improve)). I promise more chapters along the way:) I hope you have a wonderful day and remember to take care of yourself:)

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